The present invention relates to systems and methods of managing a remote access system, and the like.
Networks providing terminal services, in which a client computing device is connected to a central server to access data files and/or applications, are known. Microsoft® Corporation of Redmond, Wash., USA, provides a protocol for allowing users of remote client terminals, having limited resources, to access a central server. Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), by Microsoft® Corporation provides users of client computing devices with a graphical interface to another computer (such as a server, for example). This enables each of a plurality of users to use a respective client computing device with relatively limited processing capabilities, memory and/or storage, to connect to a server that provides greater resources, using a shell running within the operating system of the client computing device.
Centralised computing systems, in which the majority of processing takes place on the central server, provide greater control and monitoring over the activities of users. If a client computing device breaks down, all of the files and applications available on that machine are still available to the user by accessing the central server from a different client computing device. Thus, such systems are robust.
Over time, however, is has become less common to provide client computing devices with limited processing power due to a reduction in the cost of purchasing conventional desktop/laptop computers each having their own independent operating system and computing resources (such as processing power, memory and storage capabilities). By providing users with independent computing devices (such as a conventional desktop/laptop), several problems associated with centralised computing systems have been reduced. For example, if all files and/or applications are stored only on the central server rather than a client terminal, and the central server breaks down, users cannot access those files and/or applications and the client computing devices are rendered useless. However, for the purposes of monitoring and/or controlling users' activities, sharing file access, and providing access to applications with expensive licensing restrictions (i.e. that cannot feasibly be installed on a plurality of independent computing devices due to the associated cost of doing so), some aspects of centralised computing systems remain advantageous.
Providing client computing devices, in a centralised computing system, with independent computing resources and their own operating systems and applications, causes further complexity for system administrators.
For example, each client computing device may have different resources available to it and be running under different operating conditions. This can make the provision of support services difficult.
Administrators may be able to view the users' activities where operations are carried out on the central server through a client computing device, but cannot easily view the actions of the user in relation to their client computing device which do not use the central server. Furthermore, tracking an individual user's activities on both a client computing device and a central server can be complicated.
In addition, certain tasks may be more efficiently performed using the independent computing resources (such as processing resources, graphics resources and network resources) of the client computing device rather than using the resources of the central server.
Other problems associated with the use of a centralised computing system with client computing devices with their own computing resources, include security issues for sensitive data copied from the central server to the client computing devices, access control to the resources of the central server, and security issues due to limited monitoring for malicious programs on client computing devices.
The present invention seeks to ameliorate one or more problems associated with the prior art.